Alinghi lost the first race of a best-of-three series to Oracle in the 33rd America's Cup on Friday after a hard fought race.
The defender from the Societe Nautique de Geneve took an early lead onto the course, but didn't manage to hold on to it.
Oracle, after making the most of a poor penalty turn from Alinghi, claimed a decisive 15 minute 28 second win off Valencia to take an early lead in the series.
Oracle skipper James Spithill was delighted with how his crew and boat performed in the difficult conditions.
"This was one of the hardest days I've had on the boat with the pressure and direction changes," the Australian said.
"But all in all it was a good day. I'm sure there are some improvements we can make, but obviously it was great."
New Zealander Brad Butterworth, Alinghi's skipper and tactician, admitted that while he was disappointed with the loss, he was generally happy with how his team raced.
"The crew work went well," he said.
The difference was the speed of the boats. The solution they have come up with on Oracle is very fast. It's pretty hard to beat them on a day like today."
Alinghi, the port-tack yacht entering the start box, was penalised in the pre-start by the on-water umpires for failing to keep clear. But the Alinghi crew took the lead off the start line after BMW Oracle Racing got into 'irons', a situation where the boat looses steerage.
"We never had a chance to cross them, so it was just one of those things," said Butterworth.
"We tried to get across them but couldn't. When we realised that was the case we came up and tacked over and got a penalty.
"That was a bit surprising, but it didn't have an impact on the race in the end."